Socioeconomic disadvantage and health in early childhood: a population-based birth cohort study from Portugal

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

Ribeiro, AI (Author) Other; Fraga, S (Author) Other; Correia Costa, L (Author) Other; McCrory, C (Author) Other; Barros H (Author) FMUP

Journal

Title: Pediatric Research

Vol. 88

Pages: 503-511

ISSN: 0031-3998

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 8 Citations

Scopus - 8 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00R-QNS

DOI: 10.1038/s41390-020-0786-9

Abstract (EN): Background Measuring early socioeconomic inequalities in health provides evidence to understand the patterns of disease. Thus, our aim was to determine which children's health outcomes are patterned by socioeconomics and to what extent the magnitude/direction of the differences vary by socioeconomic measure and outcome. Methods Data on early childhood (4 years) health was obtained from Generation XXI birth cohort (n = 8647). A total of 27 health outcomes and 13 socioeconomic indicators at the individual level and neighbourhood level were used to calculate the relative index of inequality (RII). Results Socioeconomic inequalities were evident across 21 of the 27 health outcomes. Education, occupation and income more often captured inequalities, compared with neighbourhood deprivation or employment status. Using highest maternal education as reference category, we observed that seizures (RII = 8.64), obesity (2.94), abdominal obesity (2.66), urinary tract infection (2.26), language/speech problems (2.24), hypertension (2.08) and insulin resistance (1.33) were heavily socially patterned, much more common in disadvantaged children. Contrastingly, eczema (0.26) and rhinitis (0.26) were more common among more advantaged children. Conclusions Socioeconomic inequalities were evident for almost every health outcome assessed, although with varying magnitude/direction according to the socioeconomic indicator and outcome. Our results reinforce that the social gradient in health manifests early in childhood.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 9